D e l i s i o u c i t y

In case you were wondering (though I’m sure nobody was, as I am just perasaan that I have lurking readers out there apart from bots who spam me), I am still obsessed with macarons. I still get thrills out of staring at the rise of their dainty little collar (a.k.a “feet”) in the first 7 minutes of baking in the oven. Yes, I still do sit on a tiny stool in front of my Ariston and stare at the macarons in their process of either blooming to wondrous joy, or exploding/cracking much to my utter demoralization. When the latter happens, and believe you me, they do (even after a year of *ehem* ‘cracking’ my way to finally be able to make them), I get quite a bit of loss. Let me indulge you in the following: Almond meals are not precisely cheap. They are $20 for a kilo. Meanwhile, icing sugar vary in prices, some shops sell them for nearly $2 for 500g, while others, selling the less-than-pure mixture of icing sugar + corn flour (= confectionary sugar), will cost less than a dollar. Next, the eggs. Eggs are fine but their prices do fluctuate as any home-economist will know.  The loss really, is in terms of wastage of the egg whites in which had to be separated from yolks. Subsequently I never know what to do with the tonnes of yolks I get as a result of macaronventuring. Not that I have an ice cream truck in which I could churn ice cream and sell them to kids. Or maybe that’s an investment worth looking into, one wonders?

In the next post I will show you what I did attempt with some leftover egg yolks, though. But let me move on with more macaron stories. I had made quite a bit in the past weeks, and the Italian meringue (au sucre cuit) method seemed to please. Perhaps it was the weather that day or maybe I macaronaged (folded) the batter with near-precision (*koff koff*), which led to nicely domed shells and no cracking at all. But when I tried this method again the next day, it all went down the bin. I still don’t know what it was  that went wrong, and I can’t even bother to speculate anymore other than the fact that sometimes you get plain jinxed for being so kambang (joyous, over the moon). They all failed miserably. So later, on I went with the au blanc monte method, or also known as the simple meringue, or French method. I concede to this: the simpler method is better. (As with all simple things, I suppose). *eye roll*

It is quite ironic though, because in all my research and reading, everybody seems to say that the Italian method will produce more consistent and reliable yields! ARGH! I know I have delved into this subject before, and some of you may find this a bit too repetitive on my side. But you see, I am at an utter loss as to why I can’t seem to master “the more reliable recipe”! *Pulling hair* The thing is yea, I would be more than happy to resort to only using the French method if it weren’t much sweeter than the Italian method. For some God-given reason, that’s the way it is. Some clients don’t mind it, but others cringe with a full glass of water on their other hand. Upon wallowing to some of my favourite bloggers who make beautiful macarons to no end (tartelette; madbaker; mercotte; veron) , I have been adviced (1) to take no heed to such complaints,  (2) learn and educate the fact that the French really do eat only one of these at a time, and (3) that Americans, at least, love things sweet. Now I know we are not USA, or Paris, but the one thing I do want to share with everyone is that like in all things in pastry, there is much chemistry between ingredients to be respected. No, I cannot tweak

I do try to balance the sweetness with fillings that aren’t designed “for the kill” though. But still, I suppose this petit four still remains a foreign culture to many who have really yet to taste the real deal in the likes of Pierre Herme, Laduree, or Cristophe Michalak (yummy bloke, by the way). Till then, I remain your humble purveyor of macarons, who will use the French method for as long they don’t jinx me instead (in which if they do, I will proabably retire from this obsession at last).

The French Method macaron recipe:

100g almond meal
90g aged egg whites
190g icing sugar
25g castor sugar
Pinch of salt
A few drops of food colouring

Sift your almond meal and icing sugar together twice until you get a fine powder. In a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites with salt till foamy. Then add castor sugar a little at a time. Continue to beat till glossy/satiny and the meringue should hold soft peaks. Add about 1/4 of this meringue into the dry mixture and beat rapidly to break the mass. Add food colouring at this point if you like. Then incorporate all of the meringue into the mixture and fold gently without deflating too much of the batter. Do not overfold (or over-macaronage). You should aim to achieve a texture that is often called ‘flowing like magma’. Though I have never really been to a live volcano spewing hot magma, I will tell you that what you need to look for is a batter that holds a little beak, when picked with a finger, and that which will then fall back to the batter with little reluctance. Spoon into a piping bag attached with a round tip, and pipe onto a baking parchment. If you can find a silicon baking parchment, that is even better. Let sit for a while for the macarons to form skin on the surface (around 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the humidity level of that day), then proceed to bake at a temperature that best suits your oven type. That means you have to experiment (gasp!) Mine works best at 165C for about 12 minutes. Some people will bake at 170C, then go down to 160C after 5 minutes. If your batter was macaronaged with care, they should form nicely domed shells with a collar around it, called ‘feet’. Let cool, and do not pry the shells off the parchment! They should come off easily after cooling. Then, pipe in a filling of your choice, which includes jams, buttercreams, mousses, and ganaches. Enjoy, and bonne chance!

*In the pictures above, the flavours are my signature whipped chocolat (with the cocoa dust), and coffee ganache. Bonne chance!